


Fourteen

by chasing_moonlit_smoke747 (orangeink)



Category: Hush (2016 Flanagan)
Genre: And general twistedness, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Inspired by a Movie, Kind of rambling poetry, Tragic Romance, honestly this movie should have been a tragic romance, slightly AU, warning for violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 06:32:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7704121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangeink/pseuds/chasing_moonlit_smoke747
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thirteen notches on that crossbow</p>
<p>A rival, a lover, a friend, a stranger, a boy, a girl, a woman, a man, his bastard father, his complacent mother, his old boss, that one red-lipped waitress, the freckled babe with auburn hair and crimson-stained plaid</p>
<p>Maddie would be number fourteen</p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>Maybe</p>
<p>Not</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fourteen

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on this site. I'm generally not one for horror movies, but this one struck a chord in me. I think the reason it was so terrifying was because it was relatable. Maddie did everything right, but she was foiled at every turn. That's much scarier than ghosts or demons, in my opinion.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy this rambling word vomit disguised as perhaps a character study. It's kind of my headcanon and I thought I would share it with all of you.
> 
> And now, without further ado, I give you:
> 
> FOURTEEN

**Fourteen**

Thirteen notches on that crossbow

A rival, a lover, a friend, a stranger, a boy, a girl, a woman, a man, his bastard father, his complacent mother, his old boss, that one red-lipped waitress, the freckled babe with auburn hair and crimson-stained plaid

(There were actually eighteen blood-spattered stains on his immortal soul, but he really only counted the kills he accomplished with his beloved crossbow)

Thirteen notches on that crossbow

Thirteen beating hearts that burst under his fingertips, thirteen people who had been granted their last breaths by his hand

_When_ he chose

_Where_ he chose

_How_ he chose: generally, at the point of a steel-barbed crossbow bolt

Straight to the heart

(But only after he’d made them suffer)

Thirteen notches on that crossbow, acquired under robin’s-egg skies, cold starlight, flickering streetlights, cast in the blue glow of a television set

Under trees, in gas station bathrooms, against the moldy, water-damaged wall of his crappy apartment

Some went quietly, surrendering to his tender mercies with barely a whimper

Some cried

Some ran, like that plaid-wearing babe who cried so pretty until he cut her open like a fish, his lucky number thirteen – what was her name? John had told him before his jugular was ventilated courtesy of yours truly—

Oh, right

Sarah

Sarah who had led him to his most interesting prey yet

Because while some went quietly or cried or ran

Others fought

But nobody fought quite like _her_

The deaf, mute waif of a woman with leaf-green-hazel eyes and dark wavy hair

_Maddie_

Maddie who challenged him as no other prey ever had

Maddie who was whip-smart and resilient and full of beautiful fire, a will to live that almost matched his own

Maddie who was his equal

Maddie who made him _bleed_

Maddie would be number fourteen

He would play with her, torture her

Make her beg for it

All

To

End

Fourteen kills in two years

The notion made his blood rush south despite his wounded wrist and shoulder

He tasted iron on his lips

Snapped the crossbow bolt in front of her eyes, dropped the pieces to the wood planks under his feet

Saw her pretty eyes narrow and go cold

Watched her tilt her head back to meet his gaze

The fluttering of her pulse rabbit-fast but determined in her pale throat

Her blood on the window

Do it

_Coward_

He smiled

Basked in the fire he could see banked in her eyes

I’m coming in, he said

Turned his back

Stepped over jock-John

Rolled his shoulders, ignored the pain of his wounds flaring

Grabbed the tire iron

Walked back up the steps

Spiderweb glass

Maddie disappearing into what could only be the bathroom

Limping but still

Not

Giving

Up

_Let’s play_

He drops the tire iron

Grabs his knife, crusty with Sarah and John’s blood

Heads to the roof

Drops down into the bathtub behind her

_I bet I could make you scream_

Maddie doesn’t disappoint him

She fights back like a wildcat

Even as his eyes burn and his ears ring, _damn that smoke detector_

What matters is this:

His hands wrapped tight around her long white neck

Squeezing

Caressing

_Intimate_

As her final breaths leave her body

Leaf-green-hazel eyes staring up at him

Pale-pink lips parted

Gasping for air

You’ll be number fourteen, he whispers

_So beautiful_

Her eyes flash

His throat _burns_

His pulse thuds dangerously slow in his ears

He can’t breathe

Tips forward

His lips are by her ear

He can hear her wheezing

He can smell her scent, sweat and lavender and the metallic, bittersweet tang of blood

Uses the last of his waning strength to tilt his head and

Press a kiss into her hair

Feels her shudder and he

Smiles

Thinks

Maybe

His crossbow’s fourteenth victim will be

Him

Not

Her

Not Maddie, not leaf-green-hazel eyes and superhuman determination

Not his most fascinating prey

He

Huffs

A

Laugh

And the world

Fades

She never hears him whisper his final words, but his lips brush her neck

And somehow she knows

_Fourteen, Maddie_

_Fourteen_

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for the verb-tense switch halfway through. That somehow snuck up on me while I was writing this piece, and I thought it fit so I didn't change it.
> 
> Please let me know what you thought, and tap the kudos button on the way out if you feel so inclined.
> 
> (But seriously, am I the only one who got the tragic romance vibe from this movie?)


End file.
